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Gardening and farming in rural north Idaho has many joys and some challenges-- Zone 4 climate, plant predators/ visitors up to and including moose; sudden weather extremes (we get maritime weather off the Pacific and continental weather down from Alberta & BC). Specializing in herbs and fragrant plants led first to a keen interest in cooking with herbs, and then to soapmaking. Any one day's work might see fence fixing, pruning, soapmaking, gathering botanicals, oohing at the elk herd parading past.

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October 16, 2008

After an odd spring and summer, we're having an odd autumn so far. Finally getting hard frosts, about a month overdue. I've discovered some of my late season bloomers needed frost to help them flower, and so didn't until it was too late (S. azurea for example) and the Porcelain berries had only just begun their color cycle by the first weekend in October. Usually they are gone in a flash of sapphire and iridescent purple by then.

Those frosts mean it's 'get everything in the ground that has to go in the ground, now!' and conversely, everything that has to be out, dug. The local bookstore's backroom is now a vegetable clearing house as folks leave bags of beets and carrots from one end of the county for friends from the other end.

Autumn Fire chrysanthemums are still looking good, and that's about the end of the flowers until the Hellebores start up in December, and I fervently hope the snow waits that long too! It won't, of course, it's usually here by the first week of November, but I am so not ready for shoveling and plowing.

This week I'm cranking out soaps and lip balms for the holiday markets and will be updating the website with photos shortly. Amongst the new soaps to look for will be Madrigal (a deep spicy winter holiday scent), Pink Clouds (the essence of happy, very uplifting) and a mango-coconut blend.